ProgressiveEars.com
The following was
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Artist: Diamanda Galas
Album: The Sporting Life (1994)
Date:
11/12/2001
After some discussions
about Diamanda Galas here at Progressive Ears I thought I would pick up
this CD. It's been out a few years now, I remember when John Paul Jones
did this album and tour. I missed the tour and held off on the CD until
now. I first heard about this CD through a cover story about JPJ in an
issue of Bass Player magazine around the time it was released.
The Sporting Life is one wild batch of tunes! Fans of JPJ's
Zooma CD may be taken aback by this album. While there are some
similarities in some of the bass riffs, what floats on top of them is
something entirely different. That would be Ms. Galas.
Possessing a 4-octave range, her vocal stylings are very unique and
cover the spectrum from guttural insanity to something close to
perverted. In many cases she speaks no words but instead, emits
screeches and growls. Sound like Yoko Ono maybe? Not hardly. Yoko is
tame and shrill while Diamanda is strongly fierce and overpowering.
There are other times when she really does sing and her tone is low,
husky and soulful. Her lyrics have an ominous quality that is at times,
close to amusing. One look at the titles of her solo works though and
it's easy to see that she is being (her idea of) tame here- lyrically.
The opening number, “Skótoseme”, starts as an almost Arabic sounding
chant from Galas, then as the bass and drums enter she breaks into a
vocal frenzy. She sounds a bit like a lost Mexican girl being shook too
hard. This is not just English she’s singing here, though the way she
dishes it up it’s hard to tell what language it is. Screams and wails
are interspersed amongst the ‘singing’. This is downright alarming! Some
of these screams remind me of some of Adrian Belew’s wildest guitar
sounds- but this is NO GUITAR and Ade is nowhere in site! The second
number, “Do You Take This Man”, opens with a great bass lick from Jones.
On top of this, Galas gives a sermon in her low voice (that you CAN
decipher). She is very upset with someone “I’m very disappointed with
you, and I’m a woman that doesn’t take disappointment well!” her
(pretend) husband I would guess. She tells the story of a woman who’s
fallen out of love and lost her patience. She sounds like she’s ready to
take the knife she is wielding on the cover of the CD and pull a Lorena
Bobbitt on her hubby. This may be the closest thing to a single on the
CD, though I think it would scare the shit out of most radio fans. LOL!
“Chump is not my name!” she screams. OK! I am convinced! The remaining
songs range from more of the same to smoky torch songs. Only difference
here is, I think she would like to set the listener on fire with the
torch! For extra madness check out her ‘horsie’ sound on “Devil’s
Rodeo”, evil indeed! The title track is sinister with a lyric about
Diamanda and a girlfriend discussing how to treat a guy that looked at
them the wrong way… “I don’t like him, lets kill him!” opens the song.
“Let’s tie him up and cut him, then lets f*&k him and then kill him!”
It’s enough to make a guy keep his eyes to himself!
Musically, Jones lays down a great foundation for her vocal acrobatics.
A lot of what he's doing here he did with Led Zeppelin as well so fans
of his will be happy with what they hear from him. There are a lot of
great bass lines on The Sporting Life, Jones plays 4, 5 and 8
string basses and lap steel guitar as well. One listen to this and I
think it will be clear that Jones was a lot more than just a classic
rocker. In fact I think there was a progressive musician lurking in him
all along. He obviously likes to take some chances with his music and
it’s a good thing for sure! This is predominantly bass and drums, guitar
players take note! There’s some great Hammond organ work (and some
piano) on here as well which I assumed was Jones. Turns out, it’s Galas!
What a unique artist! I doubt the world is ready for this one, but you
might be!
Check out The Sporting Life if you are looking for something left
of the norm that will leave you shaken and stirred, you might just like
the results. Me, I’m not sure, it’s too soon to say……
